German nuclear cull to add 40m tonnes CO2 per year

Germany's plans to close all of its nuclear plants by 2022 will add up to 40m metric tons of CO2 emissions, analysts say.

Extra carbon emissions will come from the country's increasing reliance on fossil fuels, increasing demand for carbon permits under the EU's trading scheme.

"We will see a pick-up in German coal burn," said Barclays Capital analyst Amrita Sen.

"Longer term, they will be using more renewables and gas but this year and next, we should see a lot of support for coal burn."

Analysts have warned that as Germany uses carbon-emitting gas and coal to plug a power generation gap, the resultant increase in greenhouse gases would be equivalent to the annual emissions of Slovakia.

The phase-out has been criticised as a political move as German Chancellor Angela Merkel tries to capture anti-nuclear sentiment in the aftermath of Japan's Fukushima crisis.

Environmentalists welcomed the shift and hoped it would spur a shift to renewable energy such as wind and solar power, viewed as less harmful by avoiding radioactive waste.